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Update notice as of January 17, 2013: I have given this guide a MAJOR overhaul. It was originally written over a year and a half ago, and since then my own views and understanding of copyrights has changed. I felt that this guide should reflect those changes, so if you read this guide in the past, please take a moment to look through it again as I have added MANY new topics, information, and sources. Unlike my first draft, I have also changed my viewpoint to neutral throughout this writing. Update notice as of July 17th, 2015: Check out DeviantArt's new article on art theft, fanart, copyrights, and other relevant topics! http://protectart.de

~Valuable Character Bio Creation Advice And Information~ • NONO: The BIGGEST nono for bios is putting something like “unknown” or “N/A” in a bio category of a character. First of all, why did you even include that category in your bio just to pass it up? It’s an eyeroll for a serious writer to see these things in bios. Even if the character or other characters don't know their name or even their age or parents, it should ALWAYS be listed in the bio. These are things that everyone has (unless they are a robot). • CATEGORIES: I have included a blank bio form with all the categories I find to be necess

Verse: (The universe your character belongs to. Can be original or fanfiction. [Ex: Original : The name of your book, movie, game or whatever. Fanfiction: Pokemon, Star Trek, Naruto, ect.) Date: (The date this sheet was completed.) Full Name: (Self explanatory) Pronunciation: (Self explanatory) Nickname/Alias: (Does your character have a pet name, fake identity, or any other thing they like to go by? Put it here.) Meaning: ([Ex: Emily means "admiring" and William means "protector"] If you aren't sure your character's name has a meaning look it up, I'm sure you'll find something. If it's a fantasy name you made yourself, give it a meaning.) O

Basic Statistics Name: Nickname: Meaning of name: Origin of name: Age: Sex: Blood type: Nationality: Ethnicity: Race: Sexual Orientation: Current status: Political Party: Police/Criminal/Legal record: Socioeconomic level as a child: Socioeconomic level as an adult: Birth date: Birth place: Current residence: Occupation: Title/Rank: Hobbies/Pastimes: Talents/Skills/Powers: Past History Hometown: First Memory: Most important childhood event that still affects him/her: Why/How? Other memories/events that still affects him/her and why/how: Past failures s/he would be embarrassed to have people know about and why: Bigg

Character Reference Sheet-ness Basically this reference sheet covers pretty much everything a person would ever need to know about your character.. and then some. -Basics- Let’s face it. If somebody were to just glance over the reference sheet, at least you can feel some reassurance in knowing that they got the bare minimum Name (Nickname): Age: Please if you’re going to give your character some ungodly, few centuries old, age, make sure to include what age they looks like. Otherwise all shall assume they appear to be a rumpled piece of leather, ran over by some sort of moving vehicle, after being regurgitated by a cat. Obvio

Basics Name (& pronunciation): Date of Birth (& age): Place of Birth: Gender:   Species/Racial Origin: Social Class/Community Status: Language: Family/Friends/Pets/Etc: Physical Description Height: Weight: Hair: Eyes: Limb Dexterity: Detailed Physical Description: Typical Clothing/Equipment: Personality/Attributes Personality/Attitude: Skills/Talents: Favourites/Likes: Most Hated/Dislikes: Goals/Ambitions: Strengths: Weaknesses: Fears: Hobbies/Interests: Regular Routine: Philosophy of Life: Attitude Toward Death:   Religion/Beliefs: Fetishes/Strange Behaviors: Most Instructive/Painful/Mem

~Basic Bio Breakdown~ NAME: You should provide the character’s full name, even if it’s not what they go by. If they go by something else, include it in the same category like so: Joshua “Josh” Nickelson. AGE: If your character is in a timeline where it’s simple enough just to list one age or a range of ages for them, then by all means, please do so. If you have a long, complicated series or a lot of time that passes in your book, show a birth year for your character instead—something we can measure things to. APPEARANCE: This should contain everything there is to know about your character visually withou

- - - - - - - - - - UPDATE for January 2020: I created this guide in 2011, so you'll have to take it with a grain of salt since dA has updated a bazillion things since then LOL. It now looks like many codes don't work in Literature submissions anymore,  (or disable the "Eclipse" version of the site and show the old site instead), so some of the demonstrations here only look like regular text.  But they should display properly if you copy/paste them in the comments.   I'm so glad to see how many of you wonderful people still utilize this resource, so I wish you the best and encourage you to go ahead and experiment to see what works and what do

Huge character profile of completeness    This character profile template was made by compiling a whole lot of templates made by other artists that I felt were not specific enough and adding many more questions to make everything more specific. The links are in the description, please visit their versions too. This profile is ginormous, not every question may be relevant to your character. The main goal is to have a profile that is as complete as it can get, so not every question will need to be filled in. Add and remove as is needed as there's only few characters every question is relevant for. If you think questions should be added, commen

If you’re dabbling in the genres of supernatural, paranormal, fantasy, science fiction, and horror, you’re probably going to want to make at least one of your own species eventually. And that’s why I made this short and concise form for you to fill out! This form is free to use but only for those who give credit to me. Species name: Outward distinguishable feature of species: Any notable habits/tendencies: Any enhanced or extra powers or abilities: Describe how they discover, train, and harness their abilities: Various strengths and skills of the species overall: Various weaknesses and detriments of the species overall: An

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Brief introduction to your character: "(A quote from your character)" Name First name: -Meaning: - Pronunciation: - Origin: Middle name: -Meaning: - Pronunciation: - Origin: Surname: -Meaning: - Pronunciation: - Origin: Alias: -Why this alias?: Nickname(s): -Why this nickname?: Title(s): Characteristics Canon/Story: Role: Age: How old do they appear? Mental Age: Gender: Race: Nationality: Ethnicity: Blood Type: Birth Date: Birth Weight: Birth Length: Manner of Birth: First Words: Symbol: Sexuality: Religion: Native Language: Spoken Languages: Relationship Status: Chinese Zodiac Sign: Astrological Sign: Tarot Card: Social Secur

Okay, before anybody starts to think this is some weird idea, let me explain. For anyone who knows how to write (and I mean, REALLY knows how to write), you understand that a good story has everything written out on paper first.  You know, stuff like Outlines, Plot Triangles, Character Profiles.  This might be of a challenge to some of you and tie you down, but unless you are capable of keeping every piece of information in your mind, this is a good resource to fall back on.  If you do not need this, then fine—you aren’t required to use it.  According to Science Fiction Writers of America, do

Hello, folks! The purpose of this exercise is to delve deep into a character's mind and tease out interesting eccentricities about them, the bits and pieces of unique information that make them special. Each question is designed to help think about the character more and understand them. Whether you're responding to one question or all of them, hopefully your character speaks to you all through it! PERSONALITY PROFILE    1. People don't behave the same way all the time. In fact, they generally have a mask for every social group -- friends, family, business. Sometimes they have a different mask for different groups of friends. How does your

Please copy and paste this into a Word document or deviation. Then highlight the information after the colons and type over it. Setting Time/Era: Exact year or approximate time Name of Country: For fun, you could alter the name of an old country to amuse more educated readers. For example, I altered the Assyrian Empire's name for a conquering people to evoke images of brutality and Mesopotamia. Geography: Keep track of all the places you mention and their approximate locations. I find it handy to draw a rough map of the area. Landscape: Trees, soil, water, buildings... Imagine you were flying over the place in an airplane. What would you

Are you starting a story? Do you have an incomplete, flawed, or no character at all? It's happened to me many times and in my struggles to perfect my creations, I have learned a few things. I present you with seven easy steps with a challenge each to get you thinking. Grab a piece of paper and a pencil. Let's start… Step 1: Past When creating a character, you must first establish a past. Even a person with amnesia has a past, they just don't remember it. Pasts are important, they show what shaped the person and why they are the way they are today. If your character has a scar, why? If they have amnesia, why? If they have a phobia of